After 70 years, beloved diner closes on Staten Island

In Stapleton, New York, Jerry’s Diner, which has been a mainstay on Bay Street since 1954, has permanently closed.

Its owner said on Monday afternoon that it was time for him to retire after 25 years in the culinary industry. He intended to sell the structure. The structure’s T-shaped, projecting sign makes it stand out amid nearby facades.

One prominent feature of the Bay Street environment is the prominent sign that protrudes from the exterior of Jerry’s 637 Diner in Stapleton. (Jan Somma-Hammel/Staten Island Advance)Employee Photo

Jerry’s Diner, also called Jerry’s 637 and Jerry’s Pancake House, stood across from Tappan Park. The breakfast and lunch establishment was at 637 Bay St., as the name would imply. It was renamed after its owner, Jerry, who operated the store alongside his wife, Ida, in the 1980s.

Brian Neary, a native of Staten Island, has vivid memories of the location. About fifty years ago, he told his grandma a story about his excursions to the busy Stapleton district.

In the 1970s, he remembered, my grandmother Agnes Oakland resided at the Pershing House on Central Avenue and Bay Street, which was adjacent to the former Drake Business School. [She] would take me to Stapleton, where we would disembark from the train. She informed me, “This diner makes better French toast than I do!” when she first took me to Jerry’s.

He remarked, “I remember entering this small, comfortable space that simply had the most amazing aromas of home-cooked paradise.” I would gobble up the sausage and French toast. And it was, without a doubt, the greatest I’ve ever eaten in my life.

“Native Islanders knew naturally that you would be safe and fed well and generously at this wonderful establishment,” Neary continued. Another aspect of my early years is disappearing. My heart is broken.

Pamela Silvestri is the cuisine editor for Advance/SILive.com. Her email address is [email protected].